Author: Rick Mc

Career gymnastics coach who loves the outdoors, and the internet.

The Life of Chuck (2024)

On By Rick McIn books, moviesLeave a comment

Wow. Original. Interesting. Uplifting

What a great movie.

The Life of Chuck is a 2024 fantasy-drama film written, directed, and edited by horror auteur Mike Flanagan.

Moving away from his signature macabre horror style, Flanagan delivers a life-affirming, emotionally resonant adaptation of Stephen King’s 2020 novella of the same name.

The film took home the prestigious People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

The movie explores the life of an ordinary accountant named Charles “Chuck” Krantz through an unconventional reverse three-act structure:

  • Act III: Thanks, Chuck! – The film opens during a surreal, crumbling apocalypse where infrastructure fails and the world is slowly ending. Mysteriously, massive billboards and TV ads appear everywhere thanking an ordinary man named Chuck for “39 great years,” baffling local residents.
  • Act II: Busking – The narrative jumps back to Chuck’s adulthood, capturing a profound, spontaneous, and joyous street-dance sequence during a business trip that celebrates pure human connection.
  • Act I: Childhood – The final act explores Chuck’s upbringing by his grandparents after his parents die. He grapples with a love for dancing versus his grandfather’s practical accounting expectations, all while living in a home with a supernatural, prophetic secret hidden in the attic.

The underlying thesis reveals that the global “apocalypse” in Act III is actually the fading consciousness and brain decay of Chuck himself as he lies dying in a hospital bed.

The film acts as a metaphor for the Walt Whitman philosophy that every single human “contains multitudes” and holds an entire pocket universe within their mind.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

My iPhone 17 Pro Max

On By Rick McIn Apple, photos, videoLeave a comment

In May 2026, I ended up buying a refurbished Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max 256GB – Cosmic Orange – Unlocked for CAD $1549.

After a couple of months using it as my primary camera, I’m very happy.

My old Sony point and shoot hasn’t been out of the box.

Max is the larger size, longer battery life.

17 Pro Max will now be my main camera.

My old 16 Pro will have the mobile plan, audio books, podcasts, navigation apps, and everything else. The 16 Pro replaces my dying iPhone SE Mini.

I was convinced to go 17 Pro rather than the cheaper, similar 16 Pro because of this Tyler Stalman review. One of the gurus, Tyler is from Calgary.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. The improved selfie camera in the 17 is the biggest upgrade from the 16.

I went with the Flolab Surtect iPhone 17 Pro Max case based on this review.

I’ll be changing my workflow, as well, with this camera following Tyler Stalman’s advice.

SKI ✔️ ➙ HIKE ✔️ ➙ … BIKE

On By Rick McIn cycling, health & fitness, hiking, travelLeave a comment

Due to Trump’s idiotic war, I decided to stay closer to home this Spring.

Made a PLAN … that didn’t exactly work out. 😀

The Skiing was excellent. My best year ever. 12 days at Sunshine.

Hiking great. 17 days in the tent, walking deserts in California and Nevada.

NEXT is visiting friends in Kelowna and Vernon. Most probably cycling back to Calgary on the Great Trans Canada Trail.

Check out my GEAR for the trip. Everything but the kitchen sink. 😀

BC Trail – perhaps the best section of the Great Trans Canada Trail

Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day (2026)

On By Rick McIn moviesLeave a comment

I saw Disclosure Day in the theatre.

Silly. But entertaining.

Rotten Tomatoes, critical approval rating of around 82%.

It could have been better if not so complicated.

I enjoy some of the small touches, however. For example, Emily Blunt’s character (Margaret Fairchild) has a musician boyfriend named Jackson, who is played by Wyatt Russell. That character is funny and believable.

Colin Firth makes a good bad guy.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Hot Fuzz – Action Comedy Film

On By Rick McIn humour, movies, videoLeave a comment

An insane, over-the-top comedy.

Hot Fuzz is a 2007 British action comedy film directed by Edgar Wright and written by Wright and Simon Pegg.

Pegg stars as Nicholas Angel, an elite police officer who is reassigned to a West Country village and investigates a series of gruesome deaths. Nick Frost co-stars as Police Constable Danny Butterman, Angel’s partner. …

Wright and Pegg spent eighteen months writing the script.

The first draft took eight months to develop, and after watching 138 cop-related films for dialogue and plot ideas

Influenced by American movies like Raising Arizona ,Bad Boys, & Point Break, the cinematography in Hot Fuzz (2007), shot by Jess Hall, parodies Hollywood action movies by applying a blockbuster visual style to a sleepy English village.

High-contrast lighting, wide-angle lenses, and rapid-fire editing.

The film features over 5,500 edits. Fast cuts connect quick “insert shots” (close-ups of objects like a gun, a pen, or a badge) with wide shots. This turns mundane chores into high-intensity action.

Director Edgar Wright frequently cuts to extreme close-ups of eyes, boots, and weapons to build dramatic tension.

The “Whip Pan”: The camera rapidly swings to the side. This creates a blur effect.

The “Crash Zoom”: The camera violently zooms into a character’s face during moments of sudden realization. It is a classic 1970s and 1980s cop-movie trope used for comedic effect.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Happy Canada Day 2026

On By Rick McIn government, human rightsLeave a comment

Idiot Trump in office — I’ve never been happier to be a citizen of Canada.

Prime Minister Mark Carney is doing a good job protecting our sovereignty, building our economy.

As per the U.S. News Best Countries rankings, Canada is #5 in terms of quality of life, behind Sweden and Denmark.

If you don’t like Canada, you are free to leave. 😀

We don’t restrict personal freedoms as the ReTrumplican governments do in the USA.

Ironwood by Michael Connelly

On By Rick McIn booksLeave a comment

Ironwood (2026) is a crime thriller novel written by one of our best working authors, Michael Connelly.

The 2nd instalment in his Catalina series.

The book follows the investigative exploits of Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Detective Sergeant Stilwell on Catalina Island, California.

A nighttime drug drop goes terribly wrong. Two cops are shot.

Another thread follows the cold case of female hiker who mysteriously disappeared on the island 4 years prior.

It’s Michael Connelly, so good.

Reviews are great.

BUT … for me, I find Stilwell less intriguing the Bosch or Renée Ballard series. And even the Lincoln Lawyer series.

Renée Ballard is in this one. Bosch mentioned.

Some were unhappy with the unresolved ending. BUT I’m keen to read book #3 and find out what happens next.

Immersive ➙ Arte Museum, Las Vegas

On By Rick McIn Art and beauty, music, travelLeave a comment

I do like these immersive audio video attractions.

Arte Museum is a South Korean immersive art franchise.

… self-guided exhibits spread across thousands of square feet. They use projection mapping, multi-image control, and sensor-based interaction technology …

I wandered the many rooms for about an hour.

When I visited their Las Vegas location in 2026, the current exhibit was partnering with the band BTS.

One room feature a 15-minute montage of some of the boy band hits. Visuals great. I wasn’t much impressed by the music, however.

As of September 2025, Arte Museum had received over 10 million visitors globally.

Click PLAY or watch it on Instagram.

Zoox Vegas

My First Robotaxi

On By Rick McIn travelLeave a comment

Zoox is an American subsidiary of Amazon developing driverless vehicles.

I tried one of their robotaxis in Vegas.

A free public trial on the Strip has been ongoing since September 2025 running only 2 fixed loops.

They are symmetrical and bi-directional, meaning it’s not obvious which direction they will travel next.

I felt very safe over my 25 minute ride. But there have been accidents. Collisions with bicycles and scooters. A Zoox hit a car door while the driver was opening it, injuring the driver.

Certainly they are far, far safer than human operated vehicles.

Zoox Vegas
A.I. generated

Blue Man Group, Vegas

On By Rick McIn music, travelLeave a comment

I finally saw a Blue Man Group performance.

Launched in Manhattan 1987, Cirque du Soleil acquired Blue Man in 2017.

Three performers—called “Blue Men“—do not speak. They use music, colourful paint, and funny physical comedy to entertain the audience.

It’s worth seeing once, but I feel the novelty would wear off in a second viewing.

My main takeaways:

  • ideal for children & young people
  • percussion music is very good. Blue Man backed up by a 4 piece live band.
  • juvenile humour, but I had a lot of laughs
  • plenty of audience interaction. None of the victims are plants, as they are in some other Cirque shows.
  • ticket prices are way down in Vegas summer 2026. Fewer tourists.
  • acts change over time and are different in shows around the world

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.